A/N: All the usual disclaimers, I do not own the characters etc. I started this story about 3 years ago and still haven't finished it! To cut a long story short, life got in the way! It's a long and fluffy story, although individual chapters are quite short. I'm posting the first few chapters to see if it sparks any interest. Let me know if I should continue or not...

Chapter 1 – Favour

The days were beginning to blur together for Lieutenant Olivia Benson. She had only been promoted to lieutenant a few short weeks ago and she had definitely noticed an increase in her workload. There seemed to be endless amounts of paperwork to complete, phone calls to field from members of the Brass and meetings to attend at 1 Police Plaza. It was a constant battle, having to defend her unit from the higher ups, who honestly did not have a clue what she and her detectives had to deal with on a daily basis.

She had been trying all week to prepare for the CompStat meeting she had tomorrow, where she was bound to receive another ear-bashing about her team needing too much overtime and not using their time efficiently enough. Olivia had been coming in early and not leaving until late, but she had been side tracked by the new cases that had been coming in all week. Since Nick Amaro had put his papers in and moved across the country to be closer to his kids, the Special Victims Unit had been short staffed, as the Brass had not seen fit to replace the detective yet. She wouldn't have her team suffer because the department was dragging its heels over Nick's replacement, so this meant that the lieutenant was having to go out into the field a lot more than the commanding officer really should. The upshot of this was that she was not fully prepared for tomorrow and it would be another late night for her.

Liv sighed internally as she realised it would be another night where she missed saying goodnight to her little boy. She hated that she got to spend so little time with him at the moment, but she was eternally grateful for her trusted nanny, Lucy Huston. The young woman was working for Olivia, looking after her 2-year-old adopted son Noah, in order to pay her way through college. Liv knew she was incredibly lucky to have Lucy, who by now had grown used to being called at all hours to take care of the lieutenant's son. Olivia would often get called out to crime scenes in the middle of the night, or get stuck at work sometimes for days on end when a major case hit the precinct.

It was nearing 7pm this Thursday evening when Olivia's cell began to vibrate, dancing across the surface of her desk. She picked it up and checked the caller ID, feeling mildly alarmed when she saw Lucy's name light up the screen. Pressing the answer button she spoke quickly. "Lucy, what's wrong? Is Noah okay?"

"He's fine, Liv," the younger brunette answered in a placating tone. "I just thought I'd remind you that I need to leave early tonight, I have a study group starting at 8pm to prepare for the midterms next week, remember?"

"Shoot," Liv muttered. "Of course. Sorry Lucy, it slipped my mind, you know how busy I've been this week." She glanced down at the pile of work she had to get done tonight. There was far too much to take home and besides, she needed access to the NYPD network that she could only use within the station house.

"Is there any way you could get Noah to the precinct? I'll figure something out; I don't want you missing your study group." Liv thought to herself that at least she would get to see her son for a while before he went to sleep. She felt like a terrible mom when her work kept her from the little boy as much as it had this week.

"Sure I'll bring him over," Lucy replied brightly. "We'll be there in a half hour. He's had dinner, but he had a late nap so he is still full of energy and not ready for bed yet."

"Thanks, Lucy, you are a saint," Liv said with a smile. "I don't know what I'd do without you. See you soon."

"Okay Liv, bye!"

Olivia hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment, wondering what to do. She looked up to the squad room outside her office window. They had just closed out their latest case and her three detectives were completing their DD5s so they could pass it along to the ADA.

Standing up and rounding her desk, Olivia made her way to the door of her office. She watched as her three detectives began packing up for the evening, she knew it was a long shot, but she had to try. She called across the room, "Rollins, can I borrow you for a minute?"

Amanda looked up at her lieutenant, trying to think if she had done anything recently that she could be in trouble for. Being summoned to Benson's office felt like being a naughty school student being sent to see the principal, it was rarely good news. "Sure, Lieu," she said and followed Liv into the office, closing the door. "What's up?" She asked a little nervously.

"Don't worry Amanda," Liv said with a smile. "You're not in trouble. Actually I was hoping to ask you for a favour."

The younger woman visibly relaxed, smiling shyly at Olivia, "sure Liv, what d'ya need?" She asked in the southern drawl that Liv found very cute.

"Do you have any plans for tonight?" Liv asked, leaning against the front of her desk.

"Not unless you count walkin' the dog." Amanda smiled and added cheekily, "why Liv, you wanna take me out on a date?" She winked.

The older woman laughed; I wish she thought to herself. "Not me, I'm afraid," she said, "but I do know an extremely handsome young man that would love the pleasure of your company tonight. The downside is he has limited conversation skills, and he will probably fall asleep on you." She laughed again at the look of confusion on the blonde detective's face, then explained. "Lucy can't stay tonight; she has a study group and I have a ton of stuff to do here before the CompStat meeting in the morning. Lucy is bringing Noah over here now," she looked at her watch. "They should be here in around twenty minutes. I was wondering if you would take Noah back to my place and stay with him until I get home? I'll pay you. And you can go get Frannie and take her with you, I know she has been on her own all day, it's not fair to leave her any longer. And Noah would love to see her."

Noah loved playing with Frannie, who enjoyed all the attention, and was very patient with the toddler. Olivia often took Noah to play in Central Park when she had time off over the weekend, and Amanda liked to run there with her pit bull Frannie-Mae as often as she could. It had become a regular occurrence that Amanda would bump into Liv on Sundays in the park.

Whenever she happened across her boss with her son, Amanda would look on in wonder. Olivia was a completely different person when she was hanging out with her little boy, like she managed to leave behind the horrors of their job and just live in the moment. Amanda found this side of Olivia so endearing and dare she say, attractive? There was no doubting Amanda had great respect and admiration for the older woman, since before she had even moved to New York, but now she knew Liv better, she found herself curiously smitten with the brunette.

They were happening across one another so regularly that it became a standing play date. Amanda found spending time with the little boy helped her to remember that there was still good in the world, and spent hours playing silly games with the two-year-old and her dog, much to Noah's delight and Olivia's. In finer weather Liv would sometimes bring a picnic for them all to share, or if it was too cold, they would make their way to a dog-friendly coffee shop on the edge of the park. The two women had gotten to know each other pretty well as a result, and their working relationship seemed to be benefitting from it too, they definitely argued less these days.

The blonde smiled at Liv's request. "I'd love to, Liv. I haven't seen Noah for so long, it would be great to spend some time with him." This was true, the bad weather they had been experiencing lately in New York meant that they hadn't had a play date in a couple of months. "And I don't expect you to pay me, I love hanging out with Noah."

Liv rolled her eyes, "fine, but I'm buying you some takeout for dinner, and don't feel like you have to wait up for me, I have a feeling I'm gonna be very late. You are welcome to the guest room. It's all made up."

"You really don't have to Liv, it's no big deal. Actually, your guest bed is probably more comfortable than my actual bed, so in a way you are doing me a favour." The blonde chuckled ruefully, thinking of the cheap mattress she'd had to buy after her sister had completely cleaned out her apartment a couple of years ago. It was all she could afford as she was still paying off her gambling debts.

"Hey it's the least I can offer you, seeing as you are looking after my son when I can't." Liv mumbled the last part, lowering her gaze to her desk, and the photo of her son she kept there.

A pained expression crossed the older woman's face and Amanda noticed. "Hey," she reached out placing a comforting hand on Liv's shoulder, "what's wrong?"

Liv was doing her best to blink back tears, "nothing really, it's just… I feel like a pretty shitty mom right now. I haven't been home in time to put Noah to bed once this week. At this rate, he is gonna forget what I look like."

The younger woman slid her arm around Liv's shoulders, taking her in a one-armed hug. "Liv you are a great mom. I've seen you with that little boy, he adores you. It's hard being a single mom and having a career, I don't know how you do it. I do know that you shouldn't beat yourself up so much." She paused, thinking. "Tell you what, why don't I go pick up Frannie now while you have a little Mommy/Noah time when Lucy drops him off? Then I'll come back and pick Noah up and take him home for bed while you finish up here."

Olivia felt the knot in her chest loosen slightly under Amanda's warm touch. Relaxing slightly she inhaled, catching a waft of the blonde's perfume, a warm floral scent that the lieutenant found intoxicating.

Smiling at the thought of spending some quality time with her son for the first time in four days, Liv agreed. "Thanks Manda, you always know how to cheer me up." She squeezed the younger woman's hand, which still rested on her shoulder.

"Don't mention it, Honey," the blonde replied sweetly. "I better get goin'. Could you ask Lucy to leave Noah's car seat?"

"Just take my car, there's already a seat in there for him, that way you don't have to mess around trying to install it." Olivia dug the keys out of her purse and held them out to the younger woman.

Amanda hesitated, then reached out her hand so Liv could drop the keys into her palm. "You trust me to drive your car?"

Liv raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "I trust you with my son, why wouldn't I trust you with my car? Besides you are actually a good driver, if Fin wanted to drive my car, then I'd be worried."

They both laughed at the dig at Fin's questionable driving skills. "Alright, I'll be back in like forty-five minutes, an hour, tops. Okay?" Amanda said, and headed to the door.

"Thanks, Rollins. I owe you big time." Liv called after the retreating blonde, who just waved over her shoulder to acknowledge she had heard her boss.